Article

PURPOSE: To present the AsTeRICS construction set, and examine different
combinations of sensors installed in the platform and how users interact with
them. METHOD: Nearly 50 participants from Austria, Poland and Spain were included
in the study. They had a heterogeneous range of diagnoses, but as a common
feature all of them experienced motor limitations in their upper limbs. The study
included a 1 h session with each participant where the user interacted with a
personalized combination of sensors, based on a previous assessment on their
motor capabilities performed by healthcare professionals. The sensors worked as
substitutes for a standard QWERTY keyboard and a standard mouse. Semi-structured
interviews were conducted to obtain participants' opinions. All collected data
were analyzed based on the qualitative methodology. RESULTS: The findings
illustrated that AsTeRICS is a flexible platform whose sensors can adapt to
different degrees of users' motor capabilities, thus facilitating in most cases
the interaction of the participants with a common computer. CONCLUSION: AsTeRICS
platform can improve the interaction between people with mobility limitations and
computers. It can provide access to new technologies and become a promising tool
that can be integrated in physical rehabilitation programs for people with motor
disabilities in their upper limbs. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION: The AsTeRICS
platform offers an interesting tool to interface and support the computerized
rehabilitation program of the patients. Due to AsTeRICS platform high usability
features, family and rehabilitation professionals can learn how to use the
AsTeRICS platform quickly fostering the key role of their involvement on
patients' rehabilitation. AsTeRICS is a flexible, extendable, adaptable and
affordable technology adapted for using computer, environmental control, mobile
phone, rehabilitation programs and mechatronic systems.
AsTeRICS makes possible
an easy reconfiguration and integration of new functionalities, such as
biofeedback rehabilitation, without major changes in the system.

Langue : ANGLAIS